Phone: 385 (1) 43 26 88
Summary: The project 'Creation and Selection
of Medical Indicators for Health Informatics and Telematics'
consists of 10 separate studies that are specific with regard to
the selection of auxiliary aims, research methods and their
implementation. Using the method of a normative scenario and views of
experts on the project 'Health for All by the Year 2000 for the Entire
Croatian Population' standard indicators have been selected to
monitor and evaluate the project's realization. They were harmonized
with the WHO/EURO's strategy HFA 2000 strategy. Existing
demographic and vital statistical data bases were evaluated. The
emphasis was on several registers at the Croatian National
Institute of Public Health, i.e., on Psychoses Register, Cancer
Register, Health Institutions Register, and especially on its Health
Manpower Register. This last was developed during the present study.
All the registers have been designed to act as sources of the
information needed in making qualitative decisions in the
managerial process for national health development. Causes and the
extent of the mortality specific to the Croatian population were also
examined by means of conditional distribution model. The model
accounts for hospital mortality as it was distributed over the
country's 32 general and teaching hospital facilities. Descriptive
epidemiological methods showed the causes of death in the 4,339 war
victims dying during the 1991/92 aggression on Croatia. Such child and
youth casualties aged up to 19 years numbered 254. The applicability
of demometric methods was tested in a medical practitioner
population, with the focus on premature death indicators (SMR, EMR,
YPLL and others). To measure the desired outcome and quality of
the work in Croatia's hospitals, potential applicability of a
shorter and longer Harvard list of sentinnel disease, disability and
mortality was examined. With the Barber-Johnson methods, the
utilization of beds in hospitals and medical specialty departments in
the war year of 1991 was compared with the peacetime period
1986-91. Certain screening tests and indicators tablishing a
disability were used on a general and working population in different
working environments.

Research goals: The Creation and Selection of
Medical Indicators for Health Informatics and Telematics is a
developmental study with a global aim of creating and selecting the
'markers of change' to monitor and evaluate the critical events in
Croatian population and its health service. The research
proposal stresses four goals: 1. Explore the possibility of using
our indicators and integrating them into the WHO and EC lists, and vice
versa. 2. Creating and selecting the indicators of sentinnel mortality.
3. Creating and selecting indicators for the needs of hospital
statistics. 4. Creating and selecting health register indicators. Because
of Croatia's exposure, during the study, to a brutal aggression,
beside the originally proposed aims we also put forward and realized: (i)
a study of war sequel indicators for the health of Croatia's population
and its health service resources. The present project should mark a
progress in Croatian health informatics and telematics by establishing
'markers of change' for the needs of its HFA 2000 strategy. In
particular, it should enable the monitoring and evaluation of the health
service resources and of the key health events in Croatia's population.

COOPERATION - PROJECTS

Name of project

: ICP/HSC 016 1184 The 1993 - 1994 Monitoring of
Strategies for Health for All (HFA). Name of institution: WHO Regional Office for Europe, unit of
Epidemiology, Statistic and Health information City: DK-2100 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Name of project

: Monitoring and Evaluation of the State of
Public Health in Croatia Name of institution: WHO City: CH-1211 - Geneve, Switzerland

Name of project

: European Network of Health Promoting Schools Name of institution: WHO City: DK-2100 - Copenhagen, Denmark

: Federation for International Cooperation of
Health Services and Systems Research Centers (FICOSSER). Type of institution: International organizationType of cooperation: Systematic exchange of informationCity: F-75007 - Paris, France